If the questions was, ‘What is the best spell for turning a book of poetry into a frog? Then the one thing they would not do was look in any book with a title like: Major Amphibian Spells in a literary Environment: A Comparison. That would somehow, be cheating.
(The mysterious workings of the wizard mind)
"How did you work that out so exactly, Mr Stibbons?"
"I, er . . ." Ponder felt the eyes of the wizards on him. "I --" He stopped. "It was a lucky guess, sir."
The wizards relaxed. They were extremely uneasy with cleverness, but lucky guessing was what being a wizard was all about.
"It killed Old Vincent the Ripper," said Boy Willie. "He choked to death on a concubine."
There was no sound but the hiss of snow in the fire and a number of people thinking fast. "I think you mean cucumber," said the bard.
Leonard had the look of someone who was confident because, so far, he'd never found a reason not to be. He would step off a high building in the happy state of mind of someone who intended to deal with the problem of the ground when it presented itself.
It is in the nature of things that those who save the world from certain destruction often don't get hugely rewarded because, since the certain destruction does not take place, people are uncertain how certain it may have been and are, therefore, somewhat tight when it comes to handing out anything more substantial than praise.
"I have brought along a special jug of my own devising which keeps things warm," said Leonard. "Or cold, if you prefer. I call it the Hot or Cold Flask. I am at a loss as to how it knows which it is that you prefer, but nevertheless it seems to work."
Another response of the wizards, when faced with a new and unique situation, was to look through their libraries to see if it had ever happened before. This was, Lord Vetinari reflected, a good survival trait. It meant that in times of danger you spent the day sitting very quietly in a building with very thick walls.
They were in code, of course. If you have news about the end of the world, you don’t want everyone to know.
Too many people, when listing all the perils to be found in the search for lost treasure or ancient wisdom, had forgotten to put at the top of the list 'the man who arrived just before you'.
